Maxwell Communication Corporation

Maxwell Communication Corporation plc

Industry	Media
Founded	1964
Defunct	1991
Fate	Administration
Headquarters	London, UK
Key people	Robert Maxwell (Chairman)

Maxwell Communication Corporation plc was a leading British media business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It collapsed in 1991 following the death of its titular owner.

History

Formation and Turbulent Years

The company was established in 1964 when Hazell Sun merged with Purnell & Sons (which also owned book publisher Macdonald) to form the British Printing Corporation.^[1] In 1967, the British Printing Corporation merged its magazines into Haymarket Group.^[2] During the 1970s the British Printing Corporation was involved in many disputes with trade unions.^[3] In 1978 such a dispute led to The Times and Sunday Times not being published for ten months.^[3]

Robert Maxwell's Acquisition and Company Restructuring

In July 1981, Robert Maxwell launched a dawn raid on the company, acquiring a stake of 29%; the following year he secured full control of it.^[3] He changed the name of the company to British Printing & Communications Corporation in March 1982 and to Maxwell Communication Corporation in October 1987.

The company acquired Macmillan Inc., a large US publisher, in 1988.^[4] It went on to buy Science Research Associates and the Official Airline Guide later that year.^[5] SRA was sold to a joint venture of Maxwell's Macmillan and McGraw Hill the next year.^[6]

Administration and Legal Consequences

The company went into administration in 1991 following the death of Robert Maxwell.^[7] Its properties were sold to various media companies. Time Warner (then parent of Little, Brown and Company) acquired Macdonald.^[8] McGraw Hill acquired that part of Macmillan/McGraw Hill it did not already own outright. OAG was acquired by Reed Elsevier,^[9] while Macmillan was folded into Simon & Schuster.^[10]

In 1999, British courts determined that Coopers & Lybrand had made gross errors during their audits of the Maxwell group of companies and fined Coopers & Lybrand a record £3.3 million.^[11]

References

1. Records of Hazell, Watson and Viney Ltd, printers, Aylesbury, 1709-c.1991. 17 September 1991.
2. Haymarket: Timeline Archived 2009-03-30 at the Wayback Machine
3. Peter Robinson, Chairman and CEO, Obituary, The Times, 15 November 2007.
4. "Maxwell Lifts Macmillan Takeover Bid to $86.80 a Share", New York Times, 16 September 1988.
5. "Airline Guide being sold to Maxwell", New York Times, 31 October 1988.
6. "McGraw-Hill and Maxwell Form Venture". The New York Times. 18 May 1989. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
7. "Bankruptcy Explanation By Maxwell" Archived 6 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine, New York Times, 18 December 1991.
8. "OTHER NEWS". Los Angeles Times. 20 February 1992. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
9. Stanley Ziemba (19 August 1993). "British Firm Near Deal To Acquire Airline Guides". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
10. "After 65 years, Free Press to be absorbed into Simon & Schuster flagship". Melville House. 24 October 2012. Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
11. "Геращенко добился своего: Проверять ЦБ будет Coopers & Lybrand" [Gerashchenko got his way: Coopers & Lybrand will check the Central Bank]. "Коммерсантъ" (in Russian). 6 February 1999. Archived from the original on 30 October 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2021.